United States navy protected cruiser USS
Olympia. USS Olympia was built at the Union Iron Works and launched
5th November 1892 and completed 5th February 1895. USS Olympia C6.
was authorized under the naval act of 7th September 1888.. Flagship to
Commodore Dewey during the Battle of Manilla. In 1900 her torpedo tubes
were removed and in 1912 she became a accommodation ship until 1916, when
she again saw active service during world war one. USS Olympia was
decommissioned on the 9th December 1922 and being re classified as IX-40
in 1931. she is preserved as a museum.
Displacement:
5865 tons. Speed: 20- knots. Crew 411 to 447. Armament:
Four 8 inch guns, ten 5-inch guns, Fourteen 6 pdr. Six 1 pdr.
and Six 18-inch torpedo tubes
A splendid little war' was how John Hay,
ambassador to Britain, described the Spanish-American war of 1898.
Though the war was small in scope it was large in consequences , it
promoted the regeneration of the American Navy and the emergence of the
United States as a major world power. Fought primarily at sea, the
war created an American naval legend in its opening encounter between the
pacific squadrons of Spain and the United States at Manila Bay on the 1st
of May 1898. At sunrise Admiral Dewey, leading the American fleet in
his flagship the USS Olympia, had caught the Spanish fleet, under Admiral
Patricio Montojo, by surprise - still anchored off Sangley Point at Manila
Bay in the Philippine Islands. Defeat for the Spanish was total and
heralded the end of a once extensive Spanish empire in the Americas.
Montojo's flagship, Reina Cristina, is seen here under fire from the
Olympia.
